"Diversifciation" enabled Italian wine sales to hold up during pandemic, according to report
Italian wine sales held firm during 2020 despite the impact of the Covid pandemic, because of the sector’s 'multichannel' approach, which enabled it to diversify, according to new data.
The report, from Nomisma Wine Monitor, revaled that sales in the Italian off trade surged by 7% in value and almost 6% in value during 2020 compared to the previous year. Still wine sales were the strongest performer, with sales up by 8%, while sparkling wines grew by 4%.
Online sales broke through the €200m barrier, though those producers focused on the on-trade sector were hard hit by the pandemic, with turnover slashed by half in many instances.
And these trends were mirrored in other countries, with only a handful of countries posting an increase in wine imports compared to the previous year. Outliers included Norway which saw a 15.1% increase in imports, while Sweden recorded growth of 4.9%.
However, all key wine markets saw declining sales, with the US down by over 11%, China by 26.7%, Japan down 15%, the UK down 4% and Germany down 3.2%.
The picture was mixed for Italian wine exports, with sales to Switzerland up by over 6%, and to Germany by 1.7%. Sales to the US, however, were down by 3.3%.
Imports of Italian sparkling wine, meanwhile, were down in value in the US (-7.5%), UK (-15.8%), Germany (-3.9%) and in Canada (-4.7%), but increased in Switzerland (+0.9%), France (+2.8%) and Norway (+5.6%).
Photography: Gabriella Clare Marino/Unsplash